The most abundant pure organic compound in the world is sucrose. See Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd Edition, Volume 21, John Wiley & Sons, New York, pages 921-948 (1983). However, although sucrose produced from sugar cane and sugar beets is ubiquitous in its availability and is of relatively low cost, only a fraction of a percent by weight is consumed as a chemical feedstock. The potential value of sucrose as a raw material has been recognized for many years and has been the subject of considerable research.
Sucrose and assorted polyols, including polysaccharides, are particularly appropriate materials for use in the formation of esterified and etherified products produced currently from petroleum-based materials because they (a) are naturally occurring, relatively abundant renewable materials; (b) are polyfunctional with multiple reactive primary alcohols that can readily be derivatized; (c) are nonreducing carbohydrates and thus do not have the potential for the wide variety of side-reactions characteristic of reducing carbohydrates; (d) have relatively easily hydrolyzed glycosidic linkages that allow polymers made from such materials to be potentially more biodegradable than similar polymers made with hydrogenated carbohydrates, such as sugar alcohols; and (e) are naturally occurring products in common use and therefore potentially useful in the formation of novel ingredients for the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.